A local woman was arrested on Friday for her involvement in the smuggling of cough syrup containing codeine into the mainland by a local man who holds a mainland residence permit and therefore is exempted from the COVID-19 medical quarantine in Zhuhai, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Ho Chan Nam said during a regular press conference on Monday.
According to Ho, PJ officers were informed by their Zhuhai counterparts on Friday that a man from Macau holding a mainland residence permit was intercepted in Zhuhai. He was suspected of smuggling cough medicine containing codeine. The man told the Zhuhai police that he had met a woman who asked him to carry a number of cough syrup bottles for her to the mainland, and that the woman had promised to pay him five patacas per bottle. Ho did not say how many bottles the man, whose surname was not disclosed, smuggled into Zhuhai.
The suspect is a 34-year-old local woman surnamed Hoi.
Ho said that PJ officers were able to track down Hoi in a shop in Estrada dos Cavaleiros in Iao Hon district near the Barrier Gate in the evening. The police seized 66 120 ml and 110 ml bottles of cough syrup containing codeine in the shop. Hoi confessed that she was asked by a man early this month to rent a shop to store cough syrup smuggled to Macau from Hong Kong, which would then be smuggled from Macau to the mainland. She was paid four patacas per bottle, while the person who smuggled the bottles to the mainland was paid five patacas per bottle.
According to Ho, over 400 bottles of cough syrup were smuggled to the mainland.
PJ officers are still looking for the kingpin and other suspects, Ho said.
Hoi was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) on Friday, facing a charge of trafficking in narcotics and psychotropic substances.
Codeine contains opiate-like ingredients and is listed as a drug in the mainland and Macau. The import, export and use of cough syrup containing codeine are prohibited.
According to Wikipedia, codeine is an opiate – a term used in pharmacology to mean a drug derived from opium – used to treat pain, coughing, and diarrhoea. It is typically used to treat mild to moderate degrees of pain.
Evidence does not support its use for acute cough suppression in children or adults, according to Wikipedia. In Europe, it is not recommended as a cough medicine for those under 12 years of age. Common side effects include vomiting, constipation, itchiness, light-headedness, and drowsiness. Serious side effects may include breathing difficulties and addiction. Codeine works after being broken down by the liver into morphine, but how quickly this occurs depends on a person’s genetics, according to Wikipedia.
Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Ho Chan Nam (left) and Public Security Police (PSP) spokesman Kam Ka Kit pose at Monday’s regular press conference. Photo: Camy Tam
